GUILTY! Quick verdict sends Keith Luke to prison for life

Self-proclaimed white supremacist Keith Luke of Brockton was found guilty Thursday afternoon in Brockton Superior Court of fatally shooting two city residents and raping and wounding a third victim. Luke, 26, faces a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Self-proclaimed white supremacist Keith Luke of Brockton was found guilty Thursday afternoon in Brockton Superior Court of fatally shooting two city residents and raping and wounding a third victim.

Luke, 26, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole.

After the killings on Jan. 21, 2009, Luke confessed to police during a videotaped interview that he committed the crimes.

“He wanted to rape and kill so he went out and raped and killed, period. This isn’t a ‘who dunnit,’” prosecutor Frank Middleton told jurors on Wednesday in his closing argument, saying the evidence against Luke was “overwhelming.”

In his closing argument, defense attorney Joseph Krowski Jr. told jurors the law presumed Luke to be innocent, then argued his client is mentally ill and not criminally responsible for his actions that day.

“Keith Luke, with his history of mental illness, doesn’t make choices voluntarily,” Krowski said on Wednesday.

The jury deliberated Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning before coming to a verdict

Luke confessed to police he killed Selma Goncalves, 20, and Arlindo Goncalves, 72, no relation, and raped and shot a third victim during a rampage against non-whites in Brockton on Jan. 21, 2009. All three victims were Cape Verdean.